Jonathan Swift 1667-1745 Subsequent Born, in Dublin, 30 Nov. 1667. At school at Kilkenny, 1673-82. Matric., Trin. Coll., Dublin, as Pensioner, 24 April 1682; B. A. 1686. Emigrated to England, and joined his mother at Leicester, 1688. Lived in house of Sir W. Temple, at Moor Park, as his Secretary, and Tutor to Esther Johnson, 1689-92. Entered at Hart Hall, Oxford, 14 June 1692; M. A., 5 July 1692. Ordained Deacon, 18 Oct. 1694; Priest, 13 Jan. 1695. Prebend of Kilroot, Ireland, 1695. Returned to Moor Park, 169698. To Dublin, as Chaplain to Earl of Berkeley, 1699; Rector of Agher, and Vicar of Laracor and Rathbeggan, March 1699. Prebend of Dunlavin, 1700. Returned to England with Earl of Berkeley, 1701. B. D. and D. D., Dublin, 1702. life spent partly in Ireland, partly in England. Edited "The Examiner," Nov. 1710 to June 1711. Founded the Brothers' Club, 1711; the Scriblerus Club, 1712. Dean of St. Patrick's, 23 Feb. 1713. Friendship with Esther Johnson ("Stella") begun, 1700. Friendship with Esther Vanhomrigh ("Vanessa") begun, 1710; she died, 1723. Contributed to "London," 1734. Mind began to give away, 1737. Died, in Dublin, 19 Oct. 1745. Buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Works: "A Discourse of the Contests between the Nobles and the Commons, etc." (anon), 1701; "A Tale of a Tub" (anon.), 1704; "Predictions" (under pseud.: "Isaac Bickerstaff''), 1707; "Vindication" of preceding, 1709; "Meditation upon a Broomstick" (anon)., 1710; "A New Journey to Paris" (under pseud. "Sieur Du Baudrier"), 1711; "Miscellanies, 1711; "The Conduct of the Allies" (anon.), 1711; "Some Advice to the Members of the October Club" (anon.), 1712; "Letter to the Lord High Treasurer," 1712; "A Proposal for Correcting the English Tongue," 1721; "Some Reasons to prove that no person is obliged, by his principles as a Whig, to oppose Her Majesty" (anon.), 1712; "The Publick Spirit of the Whigs" (anon.), 1714; "A Preface to the B-p of S-r-m's. Introduction" (under pseud. "Gregory Misosarum"), 1713; "The Conduct of the Purse of Ireland," 1714; "Essays," 1714; "The Art of Punning," 1719; "Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manufacturers" (anon.), 1720; "Defence of English Commodities," 1720; "Right of Precedence" (anon.), 1720; "The Wonderful Wonder of Wonders" (anon.) [1720?]; "Letter of Advice to a Young Poet," 1721; "Letter to a Gentleman lately entered into Holy Orders," 1721; "The Journal" (anon.), 1722; "Letter from a Lady of Quality" (anon.), 1724; Two Letters under pseud. "M. B. Drapier," 1724; "Gulliver's Travels" (anon.), 1726; "Cadenus and Vanessa" (anon.), 1726; "The Intelligencer" (with Sheridan), 1729; "The Journal of a Modern Lady" (anon.), 1729; "Proposal for Preventing the Children of the Poor from Being a Burthen, etc.' (anon.), 1730; "The Presbyterians' plea examined" (anon.), 1731; "The Advantages proposed by repealing the Sacramental Test, etc.," 1732; "On Poetry" (anon.), 1733; "Scheme for a Hospital for Incurables" (anon.), 1733; "Poems on Several Occasions," 1734; "Proposals for erecting a Protestant Nunnery in they of Dublin' (anon.), 1736; "The Beast's Confession to the Priest," 1738; "Comp Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation" (under pseud. "Simon, Wagstaff'), 1738; "An Imitation of the Sixth Satire of the Second Book of Horace, 1738; "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, written by himself," 1739; "Some Free Thoughts upon the Present State of Affairs" (anon.,) 1741; "Literary Correspondence," 1741; "Three Sermons," 1744; "The Difficulty of Knowing One's Self," 1745. [Also a number of small controversial tracts, anonymous ballads printed on single sheets, etc.] Posthumous: "Brotherly Love," 1754; "History of the Four Last Years of the Queen," 1758; "Letters" (3 vols.), 1767; "Letters" (6 vols.), 1761– 69; "Sermons" [1790?]. He edited Sir W. Temple's Letters, 1700; Sir W. Temple's Works, 1720; Arbuthnot and Pope's "Miscellaneous Works," 1742. Collected Works: ed. by Sir Walter Scott (19 vols.), 1814. Life: by H. Craik, 1882; by J. Churton Collins, 1895.-SHARP, R. FARQUHARSON, 1897, A Dictionary of English Authors, p. 272. PERSONAL Hic depositum est corpus Ubi sava indignatio Cor lascerare nequit. Et imitare, si potesis, Libertatis vindictatorem. A. D. 1745. Anno Etatis 78. -SWIFT, JONATHAN, Epitaph, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Hee has latine and greek, some french, writes a very good and current hand, is very honest and diligent.-TEMPLE, SIR WILLIAM, 1690, Letter to Sir Robert Southwell, May 29. Now, I know a learned man at this time, an orator in the Latin, a walking Index of books, who has all the libraries in Europe in his head, from the Vatican at Rome to the learned collection of Doctor Salmon at Fleet Ditch; but he is a cynic in behaviour, a fury in temper, unpolite in conversation, abusive in language, and ungovernable in passion. Is this to be learned? Then may I still be illiterate. -DEFOE, DANIEL, 1704-13, The Review. Swift came into the coffee-house, and had a bow from everybody but me. When I came to the antechamber to wait before prayers Dr. Swift was the principal man of talk and business, and acted as Minister of Requests. He was soliciting the Earl of Arran to speak to his brother, the Duke of Ormond, to get a chaplain's place established in the garrison of Hull for Mr. Fiddes, a clergyman in that neighbourhood, who had lately been in jail, and published sermons to pay fees. He was promising Mr. Thorold to undertake with my Lord Treasurer that according to his petition he should obtain a salary of 2001 per annum, as minister of the English Church at Rotterdam. He stopped F. Gwynne, Esq., going in with the red bag to the Queen, and told him aloud he had something to say to him from my Lord Treasurer. He talked with the son of Dr. Davenant to be sent abroad, and took out his pocket-book and wrote down several things as memoranda to do for him. He turned to the fire, and took out his gold watch, and telling him the time of day, complained it was very late. A gentleman said, "it was too fast." "How can I help it," says the Doctor, "if the courtiers give me a watch that won't go right?" Then he instructed a young nobleman that the best poet in England was Mr. Pope (a Papist), who had begun a translation of Homer into English verse for which, he said, he must have them all subscribe. "For," says he, "the author shall not begin to print till I have a thousand guineas for him." Lord Treasurer, after leaving the Queen, came through the room, beckoning Dr. Swift to follow him; both went off just before prayers.-KENNETT, WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH, 1713, Diary. I could never impute your silence to want of friendship in one whose goodness to me has always been abundantly more than I could deserve. And I do assure you, from the bottom of my heart, there is not a person living I have a greater friendship for than yourself, and shall have to the end of my life.-MASHAM, LADY, 1723, Letter to Swift. Dr. Swift has an odd blunt way, that is mistaken, by strangers, for ill-nature.'Tis so odd that there's no describing it but by facts. I'll tell you one that just comes into my head. One evening Gay and I went to see him: you know how intimately we were all acquainted. On our coming in; "Hey-day, gentlemen," says the Doctor, "what's the meaning of this visit? How come you to leave all the great lords, that you are so fond of, to come hither to see a poor Dean?"-Because we would rather see you than any of them.-"Ay, any one that did not know you so well as I do, might believe you. But, since you are come, I must get some supper for you, I suppose?"-No, Doctor, we have supped already.-"Supped already! that's impossible: why, 'tis not eight o'clock yet."-Indeed we have."That's very strange: but if you had not supped, I must have got something for you. Let me see, what should I have had? a couple of lobsters? ay, that would have done very well;-two shillings: tarts; a shilling. But you will drink a glass of wine with me, though you supped so much before your usual time, only to spare my pocket?"-No, we had rather talk with you, than drink with you. "But if you had supped with me, as in all reason you ought to have done, you must have drank with me. A bottle of wine; two shillings. -Two and two, is four; and one is five: just two and sixpence a piece. There, Pope, there's half-acrown for you; and there's another for you, sir: for I won't save anything by you I am determined." This was all said and done with his usual seriousness on such occasions; and in spite of everything we could say to the contrary, he actually obliged us to take the money.-POPE, ALEXANDER, 1728-30, Spence's Anecdotes, ed. Singer, p. 15. Violent party-men, who differed in all things besides, agreed in their turn to show particular respect and friendship to this insolent derider of the worship of his country, till at last the reputed writer is not only gone off with impunity, but triumphs in his dignity and preferment.BLACKMORE, SIR RICHARD, 1716, Essays, vol. I, p. 217. The day before we came out of town we dined at Doctor Delany's, and met the usual company. The Dean of St. Patrick's was there in very good humour; he calls himself "my master," and corrects me when I speak bad English or do not pronounce my words distinctly. I wish he lived in England, I should not only have a great deal of entertainment from him, but improvement. -PENDARVES, MRS., 1733, Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Delany, vol. I, p. 407. When people ask me how I governed Ireland, I say that I pleased Dr. Swift.CARTERET, LORD, 1736-7, Letter to Swift, March 24. Dean Swift has had a statute of lunacy taken out against him. His madness appears chiefly in most incessant strains of obscenity and swearing,-habits, to which the more sober parts of his life were not absolutely strangers, and of which his writings themselves have some tincture. -YORKE, CHARLES, 1742, Letter to his Brother, June. He assumed more the air of a patron than of a friend. He affected rather to dictate than advise. . His hours of walking and reading never varied. His motions were guided by his watch, which was so constantly held in his hand, or placed before him on his table that he seldom deviated many minutes in the daily revolution of his exercises and employments.-BOYLE, JOHN (LORD ORRERY), 1751-53, Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, pp. 29, 44. My lord when you consider Swift's singular, peculiar, and most variegated vein of wit, always rightly intended (although not always so rightly directed), delightful in many instances, and salutary even where it is most offensive; when you consider his strict truth; his fortitude in resisting oppression and arbitrary power; his fidelity in friendship; his sincere love and zeal for religion; his uprightness in making right resolutions, and his steadiness in adhering to them; . his invincible patriotism, even to a country which he did not love; his very various, well-devised, well-judged, and extensive charities throughout his life, and his whole fortune (to say nothing of his wife's) conveyed to the same Christian purposes. To conclude. No man ever deserved better of his country than Swift did of his. A steady, persevering, inflexible friend; a wise, a watchful, and a faithful counsellor, under many severe trials and bitter persecutions, to the manifest hazards both of his liberty and fortune. He lived a blessing, he died a benefactor, and his name will ever live an honour, to Ireland.-DELANY, PATRICK, 1754, Observations on Lord Orrery's Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, p. 291. I know the Dean well, though I never was within-side of his house, because I could not flatter, cringe, or meanly humour the extravagances of any man. ... I had him often to myself in his rides and walks, and have studied his soul when he little thought what I was about. As I lodged for a year within a few doors of him, I knew his time of going out to a minute, and generally nicked the opportunity. He was fond of company on these occasions, and glad to have any rational man to talk to; for whatever was the meaning of it, he rarely had any of his friends attending him at his exercises. . What gave me the easier access to him was my being tolerably well acquainted with our politics and history, and knowing many places, &c., of his beloved England. We talked generally of factions and religion, states, revolutions, leaders and parties: sometimes we had other subjects. Who I was he never knew. Nor did I seem to know he was Dean for a long time, |